Novocastrians flocked to the city's iconic beaches to ring in the New Year Saturday, under perfect sunny and warm conditions.
The mercury fell just shy of 30 degrees at the weekend as morning clouds parted under light easterly winds that saw countless locals make for the sand and the surf.
The undersized surf at dawn picked up a little toward the mid-morning with occasional four-foot sets, with better conditions forecast for the afternoon as the morning low tide began to fill.
Newcastle Herald photographer Peter Lorimer was on the beaches Saturday morning to capture the last morning of the year.
The week ahead is promising to warm up even further as partly cloudy conditions give way to a balmy 30-degrees and sunny day Tuesday before the return of a possible shower or two later in the week.
The New Year holiday is expected to be mostly sunny Sunday and Monday, with tops of 28 degrees and easterly winds between 15 and 25 kilometres per hour.
Forecasters are tracking a trough lingering over inland New South Wales, with unsettled conditions persisting to the east and hot and dry conditions developing in the far west.
The situation is likely to bring patches of early morning fog to parts of the Hunter before burning off to mostly sunny days.
